Anticipating the Unexpected

Anticipating the Unexpected

Today while waltzing through my favorite retailer (Target!) on my lunch break (where I found the cutest eggplant-colored maternity sweater I can’t wait to wear with my fave maternity jeans when they’re clean!) I found myself in the baby aisle or, more specifically, the holiday baby aisle which–yes–is all stocked even though Thanksgiving is three weeks away and Halloween was just Sunday, but I digress …

Anyway, as I was perusing all the cute “Santa’s Little Helper” bibs, onesies, pajamas, etc., it hit me: Hanukkah is quite early this year, but Maya might actually be here in time for Christmas! Which means we could have a use for said cute holiday items … something I truly hadn’t even considered until now …

It was a weird feeling, I think mostly because I always figured, “first baby, she’ll probably come late …” and expected that to be the case. But given my doctor’s appointment last week, you just never know … (Hence the need to draft up three or four alternative birth plans for my OB in the next few weeks …!)

That said, my Target experience was a good reminder that while we can’t prepare or plan for everything in life, we should always anticipate the unexpected.

Which is why I’m really nervous that we don’t have everything ready for baby yet!!

See, my husband and I are both really organized people. For me, it’s my inherent Type-A, obsessive/compulsive personality. Even my “chaos” at work or home is organized, so to speak. For him, it’s a combination of being raised in a developing country where you take nothing for granted and take meticulous care of what you have … and being a U.S. Naval Academy graduate (which means even his boxers and T-shirts are folded “just so” — read as, I gave up on trying to do his laundry long ago ;)). He can’t rest if there are dishes in the sink and it’d be a cold day in hell before you’d find his dirty socks on our bedroom floor. (Don’t worry–he has his flaws, too –organization/neatness is just not one of them!)

And so the fact that we aren’t ready for Maya’s arrival yet really feels daunting now for both of us. With respect to time, typically he subscribes to the laid-back “there’s more time in life” mentality … but now he’s starting to feel the weight of what’s about to happen in the coming weeks — and what still needs to be done — too.

Truth be told, we’re not totally unprepared. He painted the nursery (see pic) when I was in N.J. for my bridal shower in early October and we have a LOT of key items we’ll need thanks to amazingly generous family and friends.

But other than painting and having a lot of awesome things already (thank you again!), we haven’t done much else — not because we have been lazy but because we’ve been traveling, at weddings, he’s been swamped with school and work and now we have baby classes to attend… so what we DO have is a closet full of adorable baby clothes to take her through her first year + of life (thanks Mama!)…. and piles upon piles of boxes filled with un-assembled furniture (i.e., crib, changing table, glider and ottoman) and baby gear (i.e., pack-n-play, stroller/car seat, cradle swing, high chair) — not to mention mounds of beautiful bedding, blankets, toys, books, activity gear that all need a home.

When I say we feel blessed, I mean it — we just need time to put it all together or away. So this weekend I hope to make a dent in assembling some of the items and, using gift cards we’ve received hit up Babies “R” Us and buy some of the basic things we don’t have yet that we’ll need right away — like a mattress for the crib, sheets, diapers, wipes, nursing stuff, etc. I’d love to at least get the nursery furniture, bedding and wall décor up … I really want to hang her name up! (I painted the letters a few weeks ago).

And then I’m thinking whatever we don’t finish getting together, we’ll invite some of our friends over for a pizza/wine party to help us get everything in order. 😉

I know part of it is just that the nesting urge taking over, but it’s also the reality that my family lives far away and hubby’s family does too so really we’re on our own in terms of preparation. I’d like to get as much done as possible Thanksgiving weekend (we’re celebrating at home just us and Rocco) — including having my bag ready in case I go into early labor. I don’t think that will happen, but you just never know!

I feel like we need to have as many bases covered as possible, and that we need to expect the unexpected. Like a good soldier, I want to be prepared for anything … and though parenting will likely be one giant minefield to navigate with tons of unknowns, I know it’s going to be amazingly rewarding, too.

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2 thoughts on “Anticipating the Unexpected”

Guess what! You need about 5 things for a newborn: a car seat, a place to sleep, clothes, diapers, wipes, and maybe a breast pump if you are planning to BF (it really helps to have one those first few days to stimulate milk production and then to relieve those leaky boobs :). And that’s it! Maya won’t care about anything else!

I am the same way as you are – type A, super-organized, major planner, etc. I was SO certain my son would be born 2 weeks late that we didn’t even own a crib yet when my water broke. (We had a pack ‘n play, at least, but it wasn’t assembled.) He came a little more than 2 weeks early which means I basically thought I had a month. But it didn’t matter – we had the essentials, and what we didn’t have was just a 5-minute Target trip away.

Yea, I know technically that’s all we NEED (we still need the pump–haven’t decided on that one yet) but I can’t help but want everything else in order. Especially since I know I WON’T be able to be in control of much else once she comes!

LOL … at least you had your pack ‘n play! 🙂 And like you, Target (and BRU) are literally 2 minutes away. My panic is unnecessary but it’s just hard to stop it 😉